“When was the last time there were more goals in the game than in the penalty shootout?”asks Neil Hattersley. I have no idea, Neil, but I feel like Mustafi’s own goal happened three years ago.
Full-time: Liverpool 5-5 Arsenal (Liverpool win 5-4 on penalties)
Even when Arsenal score five goals they don’t win away. Different but same old Arsenal? And even when Liverpool can’t defend, they win games. Same old newLiverpool?
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Penalty scored! Liverpool 5-4 Arsenal
Curtis Jones, the scouser, clips his penalty in off the left post and gives Martinez no chance.Liverpoolare through to the quarter-finals after a ridiculous match. And what a moment for Jones.
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Penalty scored! Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal
Maitland-Niles holds his nerve and scores into the top corner with incredible calm.
Penalty scored! Liverpool 4-3 Arsenal
Origi hammers home into the left corner, sending Martinez the wrong way.
Penalty missed! Liverpool 3-3 Arsenal
Kelleher guesses right and leaps to his right to save Ceballos’s penalty!
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Penalty scored! Liverpool 3-3 Arsenal
Brewster holds his nerve and drives it low to Martinez’s right.
Penalty scored! Liverpool 2-3 Arsenal
Martinelli sidefoots to Kelleher’s left. He’s been red-hot tonight.
Penalty scored! Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal
Milner rattles his home low to Martinez’s right.
What a ridiculous game of football, eh?The Kop belts out You’ll Never Walk Alone while the two managers decide who is going to take the spot-kicks.Arsenalwill take the first kick and they’ll be down at the Kop end.
“You think this Mizzy Night match is crazy, Gregg, get this: Manchester United have actually scored from the penalty spot in the other game ! ”Justin Kavanagh brings the giggles.
Full-time: Liverpool 5-5 Arsenal
My Word! We’re heading to penalties. I need a quick lie down.
Goal! Liverpool 5-5 Arsenal (Origi 90 4min)
Updated (at 5.) PM EDT
90 3 min:Arsenallook like they might just be able to see this out.
90 1 min:Jones catches Tierney with a forearm after clashing in midfield. The Scottish full-back is made of tough stuff, though, and is soon back up on his feet. “Imagine how exciting the Premier League could be if it was under 22 ‘s, ”writes David Lwason. Under 22 s and rusty old-timers. It’s the future. Or is that what the MLS is?
90 min:There’ll be five minutes of injury time, which is surely enough time for another 12 goals.
(min:A chance forLiverpool. Brewster mistimes a header after a lovely inswinging cross from Milner from the left. Jones picks up the scraps and lays the ball back to Chirivelli, whose shot is blocked.
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87 min:“What a strange yet great game. Not strange enough to fully distract from the pitch side ads though, ”writes Julian Smith. “It’s great to see LFC inching back up to that perch, especially as we now have our very own Official Coconut Milk Partner and LFC branded child seats. We envied Man Utd for two decades but isn’t this going a little far? ”You don’t win anything without an Official Coconut Milk Partner, Julian.
86 min:Milner hooks the free-kick to the back post but Mutafi clears not once, but twice. Ceballos then has a fine chance to set Willock free but he fails to get any height on his attempted through-ball andLiverpoolcome back looking for an equaliser that would force penalties. Well, it would if there weren’t any more goals – and that’s not guaranteed.
84 min:Holding plays a square pass to absolutely no one. Curtis Jones picks it up and springs a Liverpool attack on the left that eventually fizzes out. Then moments later, Saka hauls Brewster down andLiverpoolhave a free -kick 35 yards out.
82 min:Kolasinac looks to have taken a knock and is replaced by Tierney. Can Arsenal hold on for eight minutes. I wouldn’t bet on it. But I also wouldn’t bet on thisLiverpoolbackline holding out either. What must Virgil van Dijk be thinking watching this?
79 min:Lallana is robbed on the halfway line by Martinelli but Arsenal fail to make the most of a promising situation. Oxlade-Chamberlain has run his course. He’s replaced by Chirivella,who cost Liverpool hard cashby playing in the last round against MK Dons.
5. 07 PM (EDT) *********17: 07
78 min:Liverpoolare ramping up the pressure here. Elliott finds a load of space on the right (who on earth was marking him?) But his cross is straight at Martinez and a very good chance to find an equaliser goes begging.
76 min:Brewster is cynically taken out by Kolisinac on the halfway line as Liverpool attempted a break. You don’t get all up in Kolasinac’s face though do you?You just don’t.
74 min:Origi finds Oxlade -Chamberlain with a nice dink forwards, but the midfielder’s cross towards Brewster is cleared by Mustafi. Even ifArsenalwin here, the backline have done themselves absolutely no favors in trying to force their way bak into the first XI on a regular basis.
73 min:I ‘ ve had a few emails, but they’re already out of date. Meanwhile, Ceballos is on for Torreira.
72 min:There hasn’t been a goal. I’m disappointed.
Goal! Liverpool 4-5 Arsenal (Willock 71)
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68 min:… Milner fizzes it into the near post, but Holding heads clear.Liverpoolare cranking up the pressure again, though.
67 min:Kolasinac fails to deal with a cross-field pass to Elliott, who runs on to the botched header and wins a corner. It’s whipped in and cleared behind for another…
66 min:Maitland-Niles races to the byline and cuts a low cross back to Martinelli, who wallops well over. That was a fine chance to complete his hat-trick but he lacked composure.
63 min:Emery has taken Ozil off. That’s odd isn’t it? He needed the minutes and was playing well. He’s replaced by Guendouzi, who will undoubtedly add energy but it feels as though this was a night to get 90 minutes out of Ozil, who would have found more holes in this makeshiftLiverpoolbackline.
Goal! Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal (Origi 62)
And here we go again! Jones pops a lovely outside-of-the-foot pass into Origi’s feet on the edge of the box. The striker spins away from Mustafi with a delicious Cruyff turn and hammers a shot at goal that Martinez can only get a few fingers to. The Kop roars behind the goal. Incredible stuff!
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60 min:This could be 8-8 by full-time. Every time either side goes forwards they look like scoring.
Goal! Liverpool 3-4 Arsenal (Oxlade-Chamberlain 57)
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(min:) Klopp hooks Keita, who has done very little, for Curtis Jones, a local lad who was man-of-the-match in the last round against MK Dons.
Goal! Liverpool 2-4 Arsenal (Maitland-Niles 54)
Well this is unexpected. The ultra-reliable James Milner is to blame. He plays a short back pass to Kelleher that Maitland-Niles is alert to, getting to the ball ahead of Kelleher and then almost overrunning it past the goal, only for Ozil to keep the ball in play with a delicious flick back to theArsenalwinger who taps home into the open goal.
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51 min:Saka blasts over from 25 yards as Arsenal try to get the upper hand early in the second half. Van Den Berg has looked particularly nervy forLiverpooltonight – and Kelleher has looked a little overawed too. I suppose if Matip were fit Lovren would have played in this. And why Adrian isn’t playing, I don’t know. He’s second-choice now isn’t he and surely needs gametime again should Allison pop a hammy?
49 min:Everything about this match is scrappy – but in a great way way. There are flakes of rust coming off the senior pros and overexuberance from the young whelps. The result is a load of errors which makes it feel like anything could happen.
47 min:Holding makes a hash of dealing with a high ball and flicks a header back towards Mustafi that the (Arsenal) defender doesn’t expect. Brewster is switched on and runs on to it, shoving off the Gunnrs defender but then getting the ball stuck under his feet. He’s played in again after laying the ball off to Lallana only to sidefoot wide from 12 yards when the angle was never really on.
4. 35 PM (EDT) *********16: 35
46 min:It’s not a good start by Liverpool. Kelleher gives Gomez a short pass that he doesn’t really want – and theLiverpoolcenter-back hoiks it out of play.
Peep!
45 min:It’s the second half. Let’s hope it’ as wildly entertaining as the first half was.
The players are out for the second half. In the matches elsewhere tonight it is:
Aston Villa 1-0 Wolves
Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United
You can look in on that game with rob Smyth here.
“Liverpool’s substitutes’ kit numbers add up to 427. Surely that must be a Carabao Cup record, ”writes Ted Lee,in one for the Knowledge.
“Though the youngLiverpoolboys have been punished for passing at all costs it would help them if Naby and Lallana can put their forward striding heads on, ”reckons Ian Copestake. “I’m sure Klopp will put them right. The score might end up divisible by nine. ”Jamie Carragher has just made a point about Liverpool’s senior players needing to step up. Origi has been particularly poor.
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Half-time emails
“Kane on the bench? He hung around after VVD removed him from his pocket on Sunday? I jest. In seriousness, I’m not on board with the idea of not taking the League Cup seriously. For all the brilliant football over the last few years, there haven’t really been any domestic Cup runs fromLiverpool. Yes, give youth a chance, and take some of the load off the first team, but go out to win, ”writes Matt Dony.
“Gregg, why isn’t the VAR applied?” Asks Jukka Itäkylä. “Not that I am missing it, being anArsenalsupporter, you see, but just want to know why. ”It’s just not in use at this stage of the League Cup. We should be grateful. We may not have seen two goals but no one can say that the scoreline is not a fair reflection of a rollicking game and we have mercifully been free of lengthy, confusing interruption. It’s like 2017 all over again! That was a crap year but at least VAR didn’t exist in England then.
“In parts of the ol’ US of A we do have ‘mischief night’, ”whoops Matt Turner. “It’s called Devil’s Night and the people of Detroit especially embrace it. By trying to burn down their own city every year! ”
I’m making a half-time cuppa.I ‘ ll be back with your emails shortly but in the meantime read this lovely piece about a man whoLiverpoolcould do with tonight, or any night.
Half-time: Liverpool 2-3 Arsenal
… because Origi almost levels the game with a header from eight yards out after Elliott stood up a lovely ball to the forwards after a burst down the left. Peep! And breathe…
45 1 min:… from which Torreira slams a shot at goal that is blocked. It falls to Martinelli, but he shoulders the ball straight at Kelleher after failing to make contact with his noggin from eight yards out. And we’re not done yet…
45 min:Lallana is caught dawdling on the ball andArsenalbreak with Ozil. He slips Martinelli in down the inside-right channel, but the forward’ cross is blocked by Van Den Berg for a corner…
44 min:Arsenalwin a free-kick on the edge of the box after Saka, I think, is fouled. Ozil and Torreira stand over it… and Torreira hammers it over the bar. Ozil should have been on that, surely.
Goal! Liverpool 2-3 Arsenal (Milner (pen)
The captain hammers it low into the left corner. What a mad game this is shaping up to be. Who needs Mizzy Night for thrills and spills?
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Penalty to Liverpool!
Martinelli appears to catch Elliott’s toe in the box and Marriner points to the spot. It was minimal contact but it’s been given.
Updated (at 4.) PM EDT
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